Rock hard buds, then softer buds?

I have been noticing something that last few harvests. Example, Just finished a blue cheese (BOMB by the way). I cut the 4 main colas on day 61, hung for 5 days and then to jars. The nugs were tight and rock hard. Then on day 68 I took the rest of it, these buds were not as tight, they were more fluffly, big nugs. This also just happened with some heavy duty fruity.

Also, does it really matter if I hang the buds or if layed them flat on a screen?

Thanks and plus rep for advice.

The ones that are closest to the light will always be denser. How much depends on your light. The more intense it is the more light the lower buds will get.

Hung or flat dried are both perfectly fine..

plus rep for you. that makes perfect sense. thanks for the "common sense" check! i use 1000hps about 12" above canopy

on the hang/flat drying; that is what I thought but you always hear of people hanging everything.

Hit it like a Northern!

Do you usually harvest in two stages this way? My question is, is there a reason why you do this? Maybe it's just the way you describe it that throws me off a little. Maybe strains can be different more than I'd expect in that regard, but plants that produce rock hard dense buds don't usually have such noticably fluffier and bigger buds on the mid to lower branches to begin with. Particularly that you say you only cut the main 4 colas. Without seeing the plant's size and canopy effect it's difficult to say for sure.

New strain and tops looked done (80 cloudy, 20 amber) and I like to get a feel for different days associated with taste & high.

Ahh, of course. The only thing is, and you may already be aware of it, depending on the strain you may have a window of about a week before the potency noticably drops off anyway. This is the case with all marijuana strains to some extent, Indica's usually more so than Sativa or Sativa dominant strains.